Jackson Free Press

I'm glad I'm not running for president. My service record would be made public, and while there's little in there that's embarrassing other than my grade in navigation, it's not the stuff of the greatest generation, either. To avoid stomping through rice paddies, I joined Navy ROTC at Tulane and majored in sociology. It was a way to defer the worst of the war and ensure that when I went, I would go on my terms.

What does my grade in navigation have to do with my qualifications for president?

Nothing.

Just as John Kerry's maybe and maybe-not Purple Hearts and George Bush's maybe and maybe-not National Guard attendance have nothing to do with their qualifications for president. Yet, the current campaign continues to focus on these irrelevant inquiries. As a Libertarian, I can tell you why.

We are focused on 30-year-old military records because there is so little difference between the two major candidates on issues of substance. Let's look at a few.

President Bush increased federal control of public schools and spending on education by 49 percent—more than any since Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education. John Kerry thinks this is a good start and wants to add $500,000,000 in teacher pay raises, $24.8 billion in various other programs and increase to $2.5 billion Bush's $1 billion spent on after-school programs.

President Bush orchestrated the largest increase in entitlements since the War on Poverty with his prescription-drug plan. This entitlement is so large that the Congressional Budget Office has increased the estimate of its cost several times since it passed Congress, and it hasn't even been implemented.

Kerry's Web site notes that he can provide the same prescription drugs for less, but we won't get the savings. He's going to spend that on inspection of nursing homes and expanding Medicaid to pay for family members who are caregivers for older relatives.

Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry each promises to continue a totally outdated, ineffective and costly war on drugs. Thus, each assures another lost generation of inner-city youth.

Each candidate will raise your taxes—Mr. Kerry by increasing marginal income tax rates and Mr. Bush through the insidious value-added tax (VAT).

In the first debate last week, President Bush promised to continue the unnecessary war he started Iraq. Mr. Kerry said the war was a mistake, but that he intended to continue it also. The difference seems to be that Mr. Bush wants to meddle in the affairs of other nations alone. Mr. Kerry wants to invite our friends to join us in imposing our will on others.

Arguably, there are some differences on abortion and Social Security. Curiously, although these differences crop up every four years between the Republicans and Democrats, very little changes regardless of the winner.

If the American public is interested in a debate on something other than schoolyard name-calling, push for allowing Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik in the debates. Such a move will expose the electorate to common-sense reform of Social Security, a foreign policy of non-intervention and free trade, a return of control of schools to local voters, market-oriented health-care reform, a tax system that is flat, fair and simple and an approach to illicit drugs that actually saves lives.

To some, these ideas may appear radical. I argue that they are not radical but objective approaches to serious problems. I admit the Libertarian method lacks the soap-opera appeal of the current campaign and that our positions on issues do not play to an emotional, sign-waving crowd. Yet, when issues are not intelligently discussed and problems not faced, there is nothing left but the human interest story—who did what 30 years ago. To quote Mr. Kerry, "We can do better."

Dr. Lawrence Silver is a professor of marketing at Mississippi College. He is a frequent contributor to the Jackson Free Press.